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Maxim Litvinov
( ) | religion= Officially , originally | birth= | death= | cause of death= | occupation= , , Politician | spouse= Ivy Lowe | children= | family = | political party = | political office = }} This article is about the historical Soviet ambassador. For the similarly-named character in Southern Victory, see Max Litvinoff. Maxim Maximovich Litvinov (17 July 1876 – 31 December 1951) was a Russian-Jewish revolutionary and prominent Soviet diplomat. He participated in the Russian Revolution. From 1930-1939, he served as the Soviet Union's Foreign Commissar, a major success being establishing diplomatic relations with the US in 1933. For a time, he attempted to fulfill a foreign policy built on opposition to Nazi Germany. By 1938, however, it was clear that neither the United Kingdom nor France were willing to stand against Germany. After the Munich Conference in September 1938, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began a policy of rapprochement with Germany. Litvinov was removed from office so as not to antagonize the Nazis, although he did continue in diplomacy, acting as Soviet Ambassador to the United States from 1941 to 1943. Maxim Litvinov in The War That Came Early As Foreign Commissar, Maxim Litivinov was frequently called upon to condemn the enemies of the Soviet Union after the Second World War broke out between the USSR and Germany in October 1938. Later, the list of enemies denounced by Litvinov expanded to include Poland in December 1938 and Japan in April 1939.Hitler's War, e.g., pg. 194, 354. As the USSR had grudges with both, most of Litvinov's public statements harkened back to past Russian defeats and promises that the USSR would not be defeated this time.Ibid., pg. 490. Litvinov maintained a low public profile throughout 1939 and into 1940.The Big Switch, pg. 88. A few months after Vladivostok fell to Japan in the summer of 1940, Litvinov traveled to Tokyo to broker a cease-fireIbid., pg. 296. in the wake of the USSR's nominal allies, Britain and France accepting Germany's offer for an alliance against Russia.Ibid., pg. 238. A final peace was agreed to that autumn, when Litvinov met with Japanese officials at Khabarovsk. The peace treaty which Litvinov managed to secure, stipulating a mutual demilitarization of 21 km of the new border, put the best face on the humiliating loss of Vladivostok and the eastern portion of Siberia. Moreover, the end of the war with Japan enabled the USSR to concentrate resources on the more dangerous Allied invasion to its west and leave regaining Vladivostok to some later time. Litvinov did not succeed, however, in securing the release of the Soviet troops captured at Vladivostok, effectively abandoning them to be horribly mistreated, killed out of hand and used for experiments in bacteriological warfare. Ibid., pgs. 320-321. Maxim Litvinov in Joe Steele Maxim Litvinov was a Soviet diplomat. He served as Soviet envoy to the United Kingdom for a time, even marrying an English woman. He became the foreign commissar for the Soviet Union for most of Leon Trotsky's reign. In August 1939, with Nazi Germany demanding the Polish Corridor, Trotsky sent Litvinov to Berlin to negotiate a non-aggression pact with Litvinov's German counter-part, Joachim von Ribbentrop.Joe Steele, pg. 212. (Some found it ironic that the Jewish Trotsky had sent the Jewish Litvinov into the "world's capital of anti-Semitism."Ibid.) Germany invaded Poland a week later, setting off World War II.Ibid. pg. 214. The Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east a few weeks later.Ibid., pg. 215. However, in June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, forcing the Soviet Union to align with the U.K. and the United States. Litvinov attended the momentous Basra Conference, where he was the only senior Russian official who spoke English. During the banquet on the first evening, Litvinov got into a row with Vince Scriabin, one of U.S. President Joe Steele's close advisers, over a proposed Second Front in Europe.Ibid., pg. 280. References Category:Prisoners